howdy there...
i read out of the silent planet, and the couldn't help myself and went ahead and read perelandra. i had never read perelandra before and i think i liked it even more than the first one! i tried to start that hideous strength, but i think i'm going to take a break and read one of the books i bought at my holocaust convention. if anyone wants to read it...i'm reading suite francaise by irene nemirovsky. irene was a jew who was working on this novel when she was deported and died at auschwitz. this novel was hidden for sixty-four years before it was discovered and published! it is, i think, going to be an interesting perspective because its about locals in france who have to deal with the german invaders during wwii.
perelandra was really thought provoking as the main character-ransom-has to intervene in a very genesis-type situation and stop "eve" from being tempted by the devil. it was very like the screwtape letters in that lewis showed evil's very logical way of reasoning and bringing us to it's side. what was startling to me was the thought that evil is not always blatantly obvious. true evil is very like the truth, but with some simple, fundamental differences. that kind of evil is the hardest to get away from because, if you aren't really clear on what you believe, it's easy to think you've made the right choice.
several parts of this book were touching to me. one of these was ransom's conclusion that God is going to make all things good, no matter what choices we make....no matter what we do. adam and eve made a choice for our world and, even though it was followed by a lot of pain and hardships, it was because of this choice that Christ put on the body of a man and came to be a part of our world. and what would have happened if eve hadn't eaten the fruit? it still would have been good--we still would have been in communion with God. one is not better than the other, just different GOODs. it is an interesting thought to me to consider that God is not sorry that we ate the fruit, but that he made things beautiful anyway and we should rejoice in that beauty instead of wishing something else had happened. this is also the book where Greg gets his quote "sweet poison of a false infinite" :D. that was fun to run across!
2 comments:
I was wondering where that quote came from!
I recently read your post about Irène Némirovsky and wanted to let you know about an exciting new exhibition about her life, work, and legacy that will open on September 23, 2008 at the Museum of Jewish Heritage —A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in New York City. Woman of Letters: Irène Némirovsky and Suite Française, which will run through the middle of March, will include powerful rare artifacts — the actual handwritten manuscript for Suite Française, the valise in which it was found, and many personal papers and family photos. The majority of these documents and artifacts have never been outside of France. For fans of her work, this exhibition is an opportunity to really “get to know” Irene. And for those who can’t visit, there will be a special website that will live on the Museum’s site www.mjhnyc.org.
The Museum will host several public programs over the course of the exhibition’s run that will put Némirovsky’s work and life into historical and literary context. Book clubs and groups are invited to the Museum for tours and discussions in the exhibition’s adjacent Salon (by appointment). It is the Museum’s hope that the exhibit will engage visitors and promote dialogue about this extraordinary writer and the complex time in which she lived and died. Please visit our website at www.mjhnyc.org for up-to-date information about upcoming public programs or to join our e-bulletin list.
Thanks for sharing this info with your readers. Let me know if you need any more.
-Liz Sinnreich (executiveintern@mjhnyc.org)
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